Systems and methods for call processing

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides flexible, user-definable call screening processes. The user can optionally define to which telecommunication terminals a screened call is to be broadcast to and under what conditions. An incoming call is forwarded to a call management system that asks the caller to leave a voice message. The call management system selectively couples the call to a POTS line or a VoIP-capable device so that the user can listen to the incoming message and thereby screen the incoming call. Based on the screening, the user can instruct the call management system to connect the caller to the user.

PRIORITY CLAIM

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications, and inparticular to systems and methods for screening telephone calls.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional telephone systems often offer a Telephone Answering Service(TAS) that redirects incoming calls encountering a ring-no-answercondition, a busy condition, or a do-not-disturb condition, to a networkvoice messaging system on which the caller can record a message for thecalled party. The called party is then provided with aMessage-Waiting-Indicator (MWI). In many conventional systems, the MWInotification is in the form of a stutter dial tone or a flashing lighton the called party's telephone. Upon detection of this indicator, thecalled party can dial into the voice messaging platform to retrieve therecorded message from his/her mailbox.

Alternatively, many residential telephone customers equip their homeswith a Telephone Answering Machine (IAM) that automatically answerstheir phone and takes a message when an incoming call is not answeredwithin the first three or four ring cycles. The IAM plays the caller'smessage over its speakers so that the call can be screened and ifdesired, picked up by the called party to initiate a two-wayconversation. If the call is not picked up, the IAM provides a MWInotification, usually by illuminating a lamp on the IAM device. Onceagain, the called party, upon detection of this indicator, can retrievethe recorded message from his/her mailbox.

The above described two classes of conventional automated telephone callanswering solutions have distinct advantages and disadvantages. The TAShandles busy as well as unanswered calls but does not allow messagescreening. The IAM allows screening of unanswered calls but does nothandle busy calls. In addition, neither solution provides a timelynotification of calls missed when the phone line is tied up while thecalled party is surfing the Internet on a dialup connection.

A more recent call answering service called the Internet AnsweringMachine (JAM), provided by CallWave, Inc., works with the “Call ForwardOn Busy” feature of the called party's phone line to answer calls whilethe called party is using the phone line to access the Internet via thecalled party's computer. Once activated, callers no longer get annoyingbusy signals when the called party is online. Instead, callers hear agreeting after which they can leave a short message. The caller's phonenumber and message are transmitted in near real-time to the calledparty's computer so that the called party can screen the call andoptionally choose to interact with the caller during the call. Forexample, the called party could choose to answer the call, continuescreening on an alternate telephone, or request that a telemarketerblocking message be played to the caller.

Some recent TAS systems provide call screening while recording a messagefrom a caller. However, many of these conventional call screeningmethods disadvantageously only allow a call to be screened using aparticular phone line of the called party, which may not be the mostdesirable phone line for performing the call screening operation. Inaddition, these conventional methods generally are not capable ofproviding the called party with the caller's Caller-ID. Further, theseconventional methods may not allow calls to be screened while theparticular phone is being used by the called party to access theInternet or the like via their computer. Lastly, these servicestypically require tight coupling with the called party's local telephoneswitch, thereby limiting the breadth of the serving territory that canbe covered by a single system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are directed methods and systemsfor providing call screening in conjunction with a variety ofnetwork-based telephone call answering processes and services.

In one example embodiment, an Internet Answering Machine (IAM) systemallows a called party to monitor a message being left by a caller evenwhen the called party is connected to the Internet over a dial-upconnection. Calls are forwarded from the called party's line to the IAMsystem using the called party's local phone company's fixed and variablecall forward functions. These functions can include, by way of example,call forwarding on busy, call forwarding on ring-no-answer, andcall-forward-all calls (sometimes called do-not-disturb). The IAM systemanswers the forwarded calls and a plays a greeting to the caller. At thesame time, a communication channel is opened with the called party overthe public Internet and speech is “streamed” to the called party andplayed over the speakers of the called party's computer, which may be,by way of example, a personal computer or networked television. Withstreaming, a client application executing on the called party's computercan start playing the transmitted speech data in substantially or almostreal-time, before an entire speech data file of a caller's message hasbeen transmitted. In particular, the Internet channel is opened at thetime a call arrives at the call answering system so the called partyhears the caller's speech during the playing of the greeting.

If the called party wishes, the called party can instruct the IAM systemto pickup the call by linking the called party to the caller. The IAMsystem interrupts the caller, who may be in the process of leaving amessage, by playing a voice prompt, such as “please hold while weconnect your call.” The call management system causes the called partycomputer to be disconnected from the Internet, originates a new callfrom the IAM system to the called party's POTS (plain old telephoneservice—which refers to the standard telephone service that most homesuse) phone, and bridges the two calls together.

In another embodiment, rather than opening a channel over the Internetto the called party's computer, a second call is selectively originatedupon the arrival of the forwarded call to a second POTS Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN) phone line or the called party'swireless/cellular phone. The IAM system determines which of the POTSlines and cellular lines to call and which calls are to be forwardedbased on a set of rules defined by the called party. These rules caninclude online and offline status (Internet presence), telephonepresence (called party on the phone line/off the phone line), VIPCaller-ID filtering (calling number), called number, time of day, day ofweek, and other parameters. When the called party answers, a briefgreeting is played and the called party can monitor and interact withthe caller as described above.

In still another embodiment, when the call is originated from the IAMsystem to the POTS phone line or wireless device, the call isoriginated, using by way of example the SS7 protocol, to the line withthe calling party ID of the “original caller”. Having the originalcalling party's number delivered with the outbound call and thendisplayed on the POTS line or wireless phone display can help the calledparty decide how to handle the call.

In yet another embodiment, rather than the IAM system receiving onlyforwarded calls, the called party can selectively publish a unique phonenumber that terminates calls directly to the IAM system. The calledparty can monitor and selectively interact with their callers asdescribed above.

In one embodiment, the call screening information is simultaneouslymulti-cast to multiple telephone and IP devices. Any one of themulti-cast destination devices can directly interact with the callerduring the call.

In another embodiment, a method of providing a called party the abilityto screen calls comprises: receiving over a switched network at a callmanager system a forwarded call from a calling party intended for thecalled party, wherein signaling information associated with theforwarded call includes the calling party's phone number; playing agreeting to the calling party; originating a second call from the callmanager system to the called party, wherein signaling informationassociated with the second call includes the calling party's phonenumber so that the second call appears to be originating from thecalling party; and bridging the forwarded call with the second call.

In yet another embodiment, a method of processing calls comprises:receiving over a switched network at a call processing system a firstcall from a caller intended for a called party, wherein the first callincludes signaling information having a phone number of the caller; andplacing a new call from the call processing system over the switchednetwork to a terminal associated with the called party, the new callincluding signaling information having at least a selected portion ofthe phone number of the caller so that the called party can determinethe identity of the caller of the first call and thereby screen thecaller.

In still another embodiment, a method of providing a called party theability to selectively accept phone calls comprises: receiving at a callprocessing system a first call from a calling party intended for thecalled party, wherein the first call includes at least a first portionof the calling party's phone number; and initiating a second call fromthe call processing system to the called party, the second callincluding at least part of the first portion of the calling party'sphone number to thereby provide the called party with informationrelated to the identity of the calling party so that the called partycan screen the first call.

In one embodiment, a call screening apparatus comprises: a firstinstruction stored in computer readable memory, the first instructionconfigured to cause a call from a calling party intended for a calledparty to be answered; a second instruction stored in computer readablememory, the second instruction configured to play a greeting to thecalling party; a third instruction stored in computer readable memory,the third instruction configured to maintain a communication channelover the Internet with a networked computer associated with the calledparty while the greeting is being played; a fourth instruction stored incomputer readable memory, the fourth instruction configured to receiveand stream speech from the calling party over the Internet communicationchannel to the networked computer, wherein the streamed speech isintended to be screened by the called party by the networked computer; afifth instruction stored in computer readable memory, the fifthinstruction configured to receive a command, via the Internetcommunication channel, from the called party to connect the callingparty to the called party; a sixth instruction stored in computerreadable memory, the sixth instruction configured to cause the calledparty's networked computer to go offline; and a seventh instructionstored in computer readable memory, the seventh instruction configuredto originate a second call from the call manager system to the calledparty, and to bridge the calling party's call with the second call.

In another embodiment, a method of providing a called party the abilityto screen calls comprises: receiving at a first call processingapparatus a call from a first user for a second user; receiving a voicecommunication from the first user at the first call processingapparatus; and multi-casting at least a portion of the voicecommunication to a plurality of client devices at substantially the sametime so that the first user's call can be screened.

In still another embodiment, a method of providing a called party theability to screen calls comprises: receiving at a first call processingapparatus a call from a first user for a second user; and multi-castinga call alert to a plurality of client devices at substantially the sametime so that the first user's call can be screened.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described withreference to the drawings summarized below. These drawings and theassociated description are provided to illustrate example embodiments ofthe invention, and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example telecommunications system that can be usedin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 further details the subsystems that comprise the IAM systemdepicted in FIG. 1 described above.

FIG. 3 displays an example menu of call screening/handling optionsavailable to the called party during the processing of the inbound call.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate a first example call screening process inaccordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate a second example call screening process inaccordance with the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numbers are used to refer toitems that are identical or functionally similar.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides systems and methods for call screening.As will be described in greater detail below, in one embodiment, an IAMsystem allows a called party to monitor a message being left by a callereven when the called party is using a phone line to access a computernetwork, such as the Internet.

Throughout the following description, the term “Web site” is used torefer to a user-accessible network site that implements the basic WorldWide Web standards for the coding and transmission of hypertextualdocuments. These standards currently include HTML (the Hypertext MarkupLanguage) and HTTP (the Hypertext Transfer Protocol). It should beunderstood that the term “site” is not intended to imply a singlegeographic location, as a Web or other network site can, for example,include multiple geographically distributed computer systems that areappropriately linked together. Furthermore, while the followingdescription relates to an embodiment utilizing the Internet and relatedprotocols, other networks, such as networked interactive televisions,and other protocols may be used as well. In addition, unless otherwiseindicated, the functions described herein are preferably performed byexecutable code and instructions running on one or more general-purposecomputers. However, the present invention can also be implemented usingspecial purpose computers, state machines, and/or hardwired electroniccircuits. In addition, a communications line is referred to as “busy”when the communication line is being utilized in such a way that aconventional incoming call will not be connected to the communicationsline. Thus, for example, if a user is utilizing a conventional linecapable of only conducting one of a conventional voice session and adata session, but not both at the same time, for a data session, theline will be busy.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example telecommunications system that can be usedin accordance with the present invention. As illustrated, thetelecommunications system includes:

a plurality of user telephone stations 102, 112.

a plurality of user computer terminals 110.

a call processing system 124 that acts as an Internet Answering Machine(JAM) system.

These devices are linked together using various line and trunk circuitsto a Public Switched Network (PSTN) 104 and to a common data network,such as the Internet 106.

FIG. 2 further decomposes the IAM system 124 into its functionalcomponents:

a Call Management (CM) subsystem 108, which serves as the interface tothe PSTN 104 to manage inbound and outbound telephone calls.

a Router subsystem 140, which serves as the interface to the Internet106 to manage communications between online IP client devices and thevarious IAM servers.

an online presence detection Internet Session Management (SM) subsystem122, which monitors the status of subscriber data terminals to determineavailability for call handling services.

a shared Media Storage (MS) subsystem 138, which persistently archivesthe callers voice messages and the called party/subscriber's personalgreeting(s).

an IAM Database (DB) subsystem 136 in which called party/subscriber JAMservice parameters are stored.

Theses various subsystems are interconnected via a Local Area Network(LAN) and/or via a Wide Area Network (WAN). Other embodiments of the IAMsystem 124 are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/539,375,filed Mar. 31, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,246, the contents of whichare incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

CallWave, Inc. operates one such IAM system. As is well known in thefield of Internet telecommunications, an IAM service works with the“Call Forward On Busy” feature of a standard phone line to answer callswhile the subscriber is online and is using the phone line to access theInternet. Once activated, callers no longer get annoying busy signalswhen the subscriber is online. Instead, callers hear a brief greetingafter which they can leave a short message. The recording can bestreamed in substantially real-time or sent to the subscriber over theInternet within seconds after the recording has completed. Just like ahome telephone answering machine, the subscriber can elect to interactwith the caller while they are still on the line or can call them backat a later time.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the user telephone stations 102, 112 arerespectively connected to local exchange switches 126, 128 via telephonelines 134, 114. The stations 102, 112 can optionally be conventionalPOTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) telephones or local extensions behinda corporate Private Branch Exchange (PBX).

The telephone stations 102, 112 can be coupled to the same switch ordifferent switches. If the telephone stations 102, 112 are coupled tothe same switch, the switch will be local to both the calling and calledparties, such as for intra-LATA or local calls. If telephone stations102, 112 are coupled to different switches, each switch may be localonly to one of the parties, as is the case for non-local calls such asinter-LATA (long-distance) calls.

In the illustrated embodiment, the CM subsystem 108 is coupled into thePSTN 104 through voice trunk circuits 118 directly interfacing with theInter Exchange Carrier's (IXC) circuit switched or packet switchedtelephony network. Thus, advantageously the TAM system 124 does not haveto be directly serviced by the same Local Exchange Carrier's (LEC)switch or PBX as the calling or called terminals 102 and 112. Indeed,the JAM system 124 or its individual subsystem components can be locatedin a different country than the called and calling parties. In thisinstance, the IAM system 124 is optionally configured as, or to appearas, a telephone end office and can interface with the PSTN 104 as aClass 5 switch. In other embodiments, the IAM system 124 is locallyattached to a LEC switch with a physical line or local trunk interfacecircuit. This switch may or may not be serving telephone stations 102and/or 112.

The IAM voice trunk circuits 118 are not limited to a particularsignaling convention. For example, the present invention can be utilizedwith a Common Channel Signaling system, such as Signaling System 7(SS7), having separate voice/user data and signaling channels. Inaddition, the present invention can be used with other signalingmethods, such as the following trunk-side signaling interfaces:ISDN-PRI; Advanced Intelligent Network; and/or Service Nodearchitectures. Preferably, the selected signaling system provides asuite of call presentation information to the IAM system 124, includingone or more of:

ANI—Automatic Number Identification: phone number and privacy indicatorof the calling party (“Caller-ID”).

DNIS—Dialed Number Identification: phone number of the IAM system'svoice trunks 118 that the call was forwarded to.

OCN—Original Called Number Identification: phone number of the originalcalled party (subscriber to the IAM service).

Call Type—Forwarded call due to a BCF, RNA, or DND/CFA condition. Inaddition, directly dialed inbound calls can be handled as well. In thisinstance, the caller will be required to implement a second stage ofdialing to enter the subscriber's phone number or the subscriber couldbe assigned a unique personal number that is directly dialed by theircallers.

The telephone lines 134, 114 may be shared with one or more computerterminals. For example, telephone terminal 112 shares the telephone line114 with a computer terminal 110. While in the illustrated example thecomputer terminal 110 is a personal computer, the computer terminal 110can be an interactive television, a networked-enabled personal digitalassistant (PDA), other IP (Internet Protocol) device, or the like.Alternatively, the computer terminal 110 can be a personal computerhaving a monitor, keyboard, a mouse, a disk drive, sound card or similarsound reproduction circuitry such as a codec, streaming media playbacksoftware, such as the Media Player program available from Microsoft,speakers, and a modem, such as a standard V.90 56K dial-up modem. Themodem can optionally be configured to dial-up a number under control ofan application, such as a contact manager application ortelecommunications client application phone dialer, stored and executingon the computer terminal 110.

The telephone line 114, can be used to establish a dial-up connectionfor computer terminals, such as terminal 110 via the computer modem, toan Internet Service Provider (ISP) offering dial-in remote accessservice connections from the PSTN 104 via trunk interface circuits 120.The computer terminal 110 can also be connected to the Internet 106 viaa broadband connection, such as a DSL line, a television cable line, ora T1 line.

In addition, the computer terminal 110 can be equipped with a Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) software module and a headset or a handset 132,including a microphone and speaker, allowing voice communications to beconducted over a computer network, such as the Internet 106. VoIPcommunicates information via packet switching, which opens a connectionjust long enough to send a small packet of data. Each packet includes adestination address informing the network where to send the packet alongwith the actual voice data payload. If the receiving station is also aVoIP terminal, then when the receiving terminal receives the packets,VoIP software executing on the receiving terminal reassembles thepackets into the original data stream. The data stream is then convertedto a voice signal. If the receiving station is a conventional telephone,then a VoIP gateway converts the packets into a voice signal that isthen connected to the PSTN 104.

In one embodiment, the VoIP process is performed using the H.323standardized protocol established by the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU). Advantageously, H.323 providesspecifications for real-time, interactive videoconferencing, datasharing and audio applications such as IP telephony. Alternatively, theSession Initiation Protocol (SIP), established by the InternetEngineering Task Force (IETF), can be used. SIP is generally moreefficient than the H.323 protocol as SIP is specifically intended for IPtelephony. Alternatively, proprietary protocols could be deployed wheremulti-vendor interoperability is not required.

Optionally residing and executing on the computer terminal 110 is acommunications management Client application 116. The Client application116 is used to provide enhanced communication services, as discussed ingreater detail below. The Client application 116 is connected to andcommunicates with the IAM system 124 via the Internet 106, other publicwide area computer networks, or the like.

The IAM system 124 optionally hosts a Web site used by subscribers ofthe IAM service to setup and manage their accounts, to view informationabout incoming calls, and to instruct the IAM system 124 on how to routeincoming calls to one or more destination stations. Many of these samefunctions can be implemented by the Client application 116 as well.

The CM subsystem 108 manages communications with the Client application116 and with forwarded calls. The CM subsystem 108 can interact withcallers and called parties through voice prompts, voice commands, and/orDTMF touch-tone entries. The CM subsystem 108 is optionally configuredto perform additional functions, such as acting as a telephone answeringsystem that answers calls, playing outgoing greetings and announcements,recording incoming messages, and bridging calls. In addition, as will bedescribed in greater detail below, the CM subsystem 108 further providesa call screening process.

The SM subsystem 122 monitors the Internet for online IP devicesregistered to IAM subscribers to determine their availability forhandling inbound call screening and call handling services. When a useror subscriber connects to the Internet using, for example, a dial-upISP, the Client application 116 executing on the subscriber's computerterminal 110 makes the subscriber's online presence known to the IAMsystem 124. Presence detection can be performed by the SM subsystem 122polling or pinging the computer terminal 110 via the telecommunicationsClient application 116, or by the telecommunications Client application116 transmitting a “Login/I'm alive” message and subsequent periodic“keep alive” messages to the SM subsystem 122. Just prior to the normaltermination of the online Internet session, the Client application 116sends a “Logout” message to the SM subsystem 122. Abnormal Internetsession termination conditions are detected by the SM subsystem 122timing out the expected Client “Keep alive” message.

If, rather than using a dial-up connection, the user or subscriber isusing a broadband, always on-connection, such as via a DSL line or cablemodem, the Client application 116 becomes active when the computer 110is turned on or powered up and stays on until the user manually shutsdown the Client application 116, or the computer 110 is turned off orpowered down.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate one example embodiment of the present invention,including an abstraction of the previously described telecommunicationssystem and an example call flow diagram. For clarity, the detailedbreakout of the network elements and individual subsystems of the IAMsystem 124 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are not shown in FIG. 4A. Inthis example, the calling party is associated with telephone terminal102 and the called party is associated with terminal 112. In thisembodiment, the called party is subscribed to an Internet call answeringservice that forwards calls to the remote IAM system 124 upon theoccurrence of selected conditions, wherein the IAM system 124 transmitsa notification to the called party regarding the call.

With reference to FIG. 1, the called party's station 102 has beenconfigured with the local switching system 128 to forward calls on busy(BCF), ring-no-answer (RNA), or do-not-disturb (DND) to the voice trunkcircuits 118 connecting the CM subsystem 108 to the PSTN 104. Thecalling party initiates a call using the calling party telephone station102 by dialing the number of a called party's phone line 114. The PSTN104 routes this call to the called party's local switching system 128causing the called party's telephone terminal 112 to either ring or toforward the call immediately if the line 114 is busy or set todo-not-disturb. If, for example, the called party does not answer withina certain amount of time or after a certain amount of rings, theassociated switching system 128 detects a no-answer condition andinvokes a switch operation command termed “call forwarding on RNA”. Thecall is then forwarded to a phone number of the CM subsystem 108.

Based at least in part on the OCN of the forwarded call (i.e. theoriginal called party's phone number), the CM subsystem 108 queries theSM subsystem 122 to determine whether the called party is a registeredsubscriber, is online or offline, and what the subscriber's callhandling preferences are. If the called party's computer 110 is online,the CM subsystem 108 opens a communication channel over the publicInternet 106 to the Client application 116 running on the called party'scomputer terminal 110. The Caller-ID of the calling party, if available,and if not designated as private, is transmitted to the Clientapplication 116 and is displayed to the subscriber along with anoptional sound notification. The sound notification can be in the formof ringing produced using the called party's computer terminal 110speakers.

The CM subsystem 108 proceeds to play a greeting to the calling party.The greeting can be a “canned” greeting or a personalized greetingpreviously recorded by the subscriber and stored in the MS subsystem138. The CM subsystem 108 records and stores the caller's message in theMS subsystem 138, while simultaneously “streaming” the message speechthrough the opened Internet channel to the Client application 116 on thecalled party's computer terminal 110. The Client application 116 usesthe computer terminal's codec to play the streamed speech through thespeakers on the called party's computer terminal 110, thereby allowingthe called party to listen to and screen the call. Optionally, toprevent the calling party from hearing any sounds made by the calledparty during the screening process, the audio return path over theInternet channel to the CM subsystem 108 is muted.

While monitoring the Caller-ID of the incoming call, via the IncomingCall field illustrated in FIG. 3 for example, and listening to thecorresponding streaming message, the called party is presented with oneor more of the following options (see FIG. 3 which depicts an exampleClient application popup dialog menu):

1. do nothing.

2. pickup (answer) the call to talk to the caller using a softwaretelephone running on the “home PC” (the computer terminal 110).

3. pickup (answer) the call to talk to the caller using the “home phone”on the phone line used to connect to the Internet (the user telephonestation 112).

4. pickup (answer) the call to talk to the caller after transferring thecall to an alternate phone or to an alternate PC.

5. continue screening the call after transferring it to an alternatephone or to an alternate PC.

6. terminate the call substantially immediately—with a do not disturbmessage.

7. do not answer the call.

The called party may choose to ignore the incoming call. For example,the call may not have been urgent enough to interrupt what they aredoing or the call may have been intended for another member of thehousehold. Under option (1), the called party can close the callhandling options dialog box illustrated in FIG. 3 using the “CLOSE”option, thereby informing the IAM system 124 that no furtherinstructions for caller interaction will be forthcoming. Alternatively,the called party, having screened the Caller-ID of the incoming calland/or the associated caller's message, can simply continue doing whatthey were doing before the call arrived. After the caller has left acomplete message, as indicated by the caller terminating the call orafter a predetermined recording time period, the IAM system 124downloads the recorded message to the subscriber's computer terminal 110and updates the Client application's call log, which lists the callshandled by the IAM system 124 for the called party. The message isarchived in the MS subsystem 138 and is also available locally on thecomputer terminal 110 for playback at the called party's convenience.

Under option (2), the called party may decide to pickup the call inprogress to talk to the calling party using the computer terminal 110.Having screened the call, the called party can signal the IAM system 124to indicate a desire to talk to the calling party using VoIP. Forexample, the called party can activate the “HOME PC (VoIP)” optiondisplayed in FIG. 3. After the called party has selected option (2), theClient application 116 sends an instruction by way of an Internet-basedclient/server control message to the IAM system 124. Upon receiving theinstruction, the IAM system 124 interrupts the recording and streamingprocess and plays a canned audio prompt to the calling party. The audioprompt can be, for example, “please hold while your call is beingconnected,” followed by audible ringing. The IAM system 124 thenbridges, in full duplex mode, the inbound call from the calling party tothe CM subsystem 108 with the outbound VoIP call from the CM subsystem108 to the called party computer 110.

The IAM system 124 will stay bridged between the calling party andcalled party for the duration of the call and may respond to internalevents or called party actions. For example, the IAM system 124 canselectively interrupt the bridged call if a time limit is exceeded andplay an announcement to notify the calling party and/or the called partythat the call will be terminated shortly. The IAM system 124 can alsoinitiate or transmit a warning message directly to the Clientapplication 116 that then displays a visual notice regarding calltermination or the like on the called party's computer terminal 110.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate an example call process workflow that can be usedwhen a called party is online and can answer screened calls via a VoIPsession. In this example, after screening the call, the called partyagrees to talk directly to the caller. Of course, after screening thecall the called party could have elected to decline the call. Withreference to FIGS. 4A-4B, at state 401, the calling party phone 102(hereinafter, referred to as the “calling party”) calls the called partyphone line 114 connected to the telephone 112 and computer 110. In thisexample, the computer 110 is using the phone line 114 to access theInternet; i.e. the computer is online and hence the phone line is busy.

At state 402, the PSTN 104 detects that the called party phone line 114is busy. At state 403, in accordance with a call forwarding service, thePSTN 104 forwards the call on busy to the IAM system 124 via the voicetrunk circuits 118. At state 404, the IAM system 124 transmits anincoming call alert to the computer 110 that is displayed to the calledparty by the Client application 116. At the same time or shortlythereafter, at state 405 the JAM system 124 answers the forwardedincoming call. At state 406, the PSTN 104 establishes a full duplex,2-way talk path with the calling party. At state 407, the IAM system 124plays a greeting to the calling party. At state 408, the calling partyoptionally begins leaving a voice message that is recorded by the IAMsystem 124. Alternatively, similar to a telephone answering machine, thecalling party can begin speaking to the called party even while the IAMsystem 124 is playing the greeting. At state 409 the IAM system 124begins streaming the message being left by the calling party insubstantially real-time to the Client application 116 or other mediaplayer executing on the computer 110, that then plays the message to thecalled party.

At state 410 of FIGS. 4A-4B, the IAM system 124 generates a tone orother audio signal to indicate to the calling party that the callingparty should begin recording a message. At state 411, the calling partybegins leaving a voice message. At state 412, the IAM system 124 beginsstreaming the message being left by the calling party in substantiallyreal-time to the Client application 116 or other media player executingon the computer 110, which plays the message to the called party.

At state 413, the called party notifies the IAM system 124 that thecalled party wants to take the call. At state 414, the IAM system 124interrupts the calling party, via a tone or voice notification. At state415, the IAM system 124 requests that the calling party hold or waitwhile the IAM system 124 connects the calling party to the called party.At state 416, the IAM system 124 bridges the calling party with thecalled party computer 110, via the VoIP software module 130, byestablishing a VoIP session. This entails bridging the two callstogether through the IAM system so that the caller and the called partycan converse (state 417):

the inbound call from the calling party 102 connected into the CMsubsystem 108 through the PSTN 104; is bridged with

the outbound call from the CM subsystem 108 connected through the Routersubsystem 140 and the Internet 106 to the VoIP session running on thesubscriber's computer terminal 110.

Either party can terminate the call at state 418 by hanging up theirtelephone (calling party station set 102, or the called party canterminate the VoIP session on the computer terminal 110). At state 419,the IAM system 124 releases the bridging resources and signalscompletion of the call by sending a corresponding control message to thecalled party which is either displayed or played to the called party viathe Client application 116.

In another embodiment, the SM subsystem 122 detects the presence of thecalled party on different IP devices, such as other computers orweb-enabled cellular phones, at other locations. For example, thesession manager SM subsystem 122 optionally interfaces with otherinstant messaging services, such as:

AOL®'s Instant Messenger™,

MSN®'s Instant Messenger™,

Yahoo!® Messenger,

ICQ

where presence of the called party can be detected on other IP networksand at other geographic locations. The same call/session dialogdescribed above is similarly performed in this embodiment.

Under option (3), the called party may decide to pickup the call inprogress to talk to the calling party via a POTS telephone, such as thetelephone terminal 112. Having screened the call, the called party cansignal the IAM system 124 to indicate a desire to talk to the callingparty. If the called party activates, by way of example, the “TALK @HOME” key illustrated in FIG. 3 with the Home Phone radio buttondepressed, the Client application 116 sends an instruction to the IAMsystem 124 and then substantially immediately terminates the calledparty's dial-up Internet session in order to make available the calledparty's phone line 114. Upon receiving the instruction from the Clientapplication 116, the IAM system 124 interrupts the recording andstreaming process and plays a canned voice prompt, such as “please holdwhile your call is being connected,” followed by audible ringing. TheIAM system 124 then proceeds to originate a new call on a free outboundvoice trunk 118 from the JAM system 124 to the called party's phone line114. The call from the IAM system 124 to the called party can be alocal, intra-state, inter-state, or International PSTN call, as needed.Optionally, the call originated by the IAM system 124 is to bejurisdictionally interstate so as to be rated and billed or charged asan interstate call. For example, in one embodiment, a six digitInformation Element in the SS7 call setup message may be configured withthe geographic area code and prefix of the Call Processing IAM System124 so as to cause the rating of the outgoing call to be Inter-staterather than Intrastate.

When the called party's phone line 114 is answered a brief announcementis played to the called party and the IAM system 124 then bridges, infull duplex mode, the inbound call between the calling party and IAMsystem 124 with the outbound call between the IAM system 124 and calledparty's line 114.

In addition, the user can specify call handling rules that determine, atleast in part, the call treatment for an incoming call based on one ormore conditions. A rule can specify, for example, that if one or moreconditions are met for a call, the call will be processing in accordancewith a corresponding specified treatment. For example, the followingconditions and automatic treatments can be defined:

Conditions:

Time-of-Day (can include a range of times), Day of Week (can include arange of days), Day of Year (holiday)

Calling Party Number (Caller ID, non-local area code, phone type, callername)

Called Party Number

Subscriber presence (IP device)

Telephony presence (phone)

Treatments:

Take a voice message (using selective greeting(s))

Take the call on home PC

Take the call on home phone

Take the call on work phone

Take the call on another phone

Remote screen on another phone(s) or other device(s)

Block call (for example, using an audio message, a SIT tone or the like)

Do not answer call

Multiparty conference

By way of example, a subscriber can specify that if a call from aspecified calling party number is received at a specified time of day(8:00-5:00), during the work week (Monday-Friday), the call should beforwarded to a specified phone, which can be the subscriber's workphone. By way of another example, a subscriber can specify that if acall to a specified phone number associated with the subscriber isreceived, on a holiday, remote screening should be performed using adifferent one of the subscriber's phone numbers.

If the call treatment specifies that the caller is to be connected tothe subscriber using a given device, the subscriber can optionally stillbe provided with the ability to manually specify further call treatment,such as similarly described above. For example, the called party can bepresented with one or more of the following options: take a voicemessage (using selective greeting(s)); take the call on home PC; takethe call on home phone; take the call on office phone; take the call onanother phone; remote screen on another phone(s) or other device(s);block call; do not answer call. Depending on the device the subscriberis currently using, the options can be provided via a visual menu, avoice menu, or the like.

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate an example call process workflow that can be usedwhen a called party requests to interrupt the caller message and to talkto the caller using the home telephone. With reference to FIGS. 5A-5B,at state 501, the calling party calls the called party phone line 114connected to the telephone 112 and computer 110. In this example, thecomputer 110 is using the phone line 114 to access the Internet or othercomputer network, and so is online. At state 502, the PSTN 104 detectsthat the called party phone line 114 is busy. At state 503, inaccordance with a call forwarding service, the PSTN 104 forwards thecall on busy to the IAM system 124 via the voice trunk circuits 118. Atstate 504, the IAM system 124 transmits an incoming call alert to thecomputer 110 that is displayed to the called party by the Clientapplication 116. At the same time or shortly thereafter, at state 505the IAM system 124 answers the forwarded incoming call. At state 506,the PSTN 104 establishes a full duplex, 2-way talk path with the callingparty. At state 507, the IAM system 124 plays a greeting to the callingparty. At state 508, the calling party optionally begins leaving a voicemessage that is recorded by the IAM system 124. Once again, the callingparty can begin speaking to the called party even while the IAM system124 is playing the greeting. At state 509 the IAM system 124 beginsstreaming the message being left by the calling party in substantiallyreal-time to the Client application 116 or other media player executingon the computer 110, that then plays the message to the called party.

At state 510 of FIGS. 4A-4B, the IAM system 124 generates a tone oraudible signal to indicate to the calling party that the calling partyshould begin recording a message. At state 511, the calling party beginsleaving a voice message. At state 512, the JAM system 124 beginsstreaming the message being left by the calling party in substantiallyreal-time to the Client application 116 or other media player executingon the computer 110, which plays the message to the called party.

At state 513, the called party notifies the IAM system 124 that thecalled party wants to take the call via the home telephone 112, and theIAM system 124 instructs the Client application 116 to terminate theonline session of the computer 110 by disconnecting from the Internet106. At state 514, the IAM system 124 interrupts the calling party, viaa tone or voice prompt. At state 515, the IAM system 124 requests thatthe calling party hold or wait while the IAM system 124 connects thecalling party to the called party. At state 516, the Client application116 terminates the online session of the computer 110 by disconnectingfrom the Internet 106 thereby idling the called party's telephone line114. At state 517, the JAM system 124 initiates a new call to the calledparty phone 112. At state 518, the called party answers the new incomingcall from the IAM system 124. At state 519, the IAM system 124 generatesa call announcement to the called and/or calling party. At state 520,the IAM system 124 bridges the call between the calling party phone 102and the called party phone 112. The calling and called parties can nowconduct a normal telephone conversation at state 521. Again, eitherparty can terminate the call by simply hanging up their telephone (state522). At state 523, the IAM system 124 then releases the bridgingresources and terminates the remaining call by optionally notifying thecalling/called party that the other party has hung up and thendisconnecting the call.

Under option (4), the called party may decide to pickup the call inprogress to talk to the calling party using a communications deviceother than the telephone terminal 112 or the computer 110. Havingscreened the call, the called party signals the IAM system 124 by, forexample, activating the “TALK REMOTELY” button option illustrated inFIG. 3, to indicate a desire to talk to the calling party. As similarlydiscussed above with respect to option (3), based on the called partyselecting option (4), the Client application 116 sends a correspondinginstruction to the IAM system 124 along with a specification of thedesired destination station phone number. The destination numberspecification can be an index into the subscriber's electronic phonebook or may literally be the desired destination phone number. Forexample, the called party can select via the “Would you like to TALK tothis caller” option that the called party wants to talk to the callingparty using the called party's cell phone, office phone, other phone, orat a phone associated with a phone number entered by the called party inthe “ENTER PHONE #” field.

Upon receiving the instruction from the Client application 116, the IAMsystem 124 interrupts the recording and streaming process and plays avoice prompt to the caller. The IAM system 124 then proceeds tooriginate a new call on a free outbound voice trunk circuit 118. Incontrast to option (3) described above, the Client application 116 doesnot terminate the online Internet session of the subscriber's computerterminal 110. In fact, the Client application 116 may continue onlinecall monitoring operation while the above described transferred call isin progress. Multiple subsequent inbound calls could be simultaneouslyhandled in this manner.

By way of example and not limitation, the destination station of theoutbound call from the IAM system 124 can include:

a wireless or cellular phone or device;

a called party's phone line and/or extension at work;

another POTS line of the called party (e.g. a second home phone number);or

a neighbor's or friend's phone line.

In addition, the called party can optionally specify the destinationstation by manually entering a phone number while the call is beingscreened. This new entry could be automatically journaled in an electricphone book available to the Client application 116 or an extension tothe options menu could popup to query the subscriber to determine ifthis is desired. Alternatively, the called party selecting an existingentry from the phone book can optionally dynamically assign thedestination station. The phone book entries can be persistently storedlocally on the computer terminal 110, in a centralized medium like theJAM DB subsystem 136, or in both.

Under option (5), the called party may decide to allow the call inprogress to be remotely screened using a communications device otherthan the telephone terminal 112 or the computer 110. This can optionallybe in addition to continued screening of this call on the subscriber'scomputer 110 or instead of continued screening of this call on thesubscriber's computer 110. The called party signals the IAM system 124,using the “SCREEN REMOTELY” option illustrated in FIG. 3, to indicate adesire to remotely screen the incoming call. Once again, as similarlydiscussed with respect to options (3) and (4) above, based on the calledparty selecting option (5), the Client application 116 sends acorresponding instruction to the IAM system 124 along with aspecification of the desired destination phone number. The destinationnumber selection and specification is identical to that utilized inoption (4) above, however the Screen Remotely options are used, ratherthan the Talk Remotely options. For example, the called party can selectvia the “Would you like to SCREEN to this caller” option that the calledparty wants to screen the calling party using the called party's cellphone, office phone, other phone, or at a phone associated with a phonenumber entered by the called party in the “ENTER PHONE #” field.

Upon receipt of this instruction, the IAM system 124 initiates anoutbound call from the CM subsystem to the specified destination phonenumber. The call setup signaling information for this outbound call ismodified by the IAM system 124 to deliver the calling party number fromthe inbound call in the outbound call's ANI field. This allows theforwarded destination station to display the “original Caller-ID” to useas a first level filter for remotely screening the call. Should theremote called party decide to ignore this call, they simply do notanswer it and the IAM system 124 will abort the transferred call attemptafter a programmable time interval or a programmable number of ringcycles.

If the remote called party answers the transferred call, the IAM system124 plays a brief greeting prompt to the remote party to announce theremote screening call in progress. The caller message streaming canstart at the beginning of the recording or cut over to live recording inreal time. The output talk path from the remote party back to the IAMsystem 124 is active but is muted with respect to the original callingparty call. This allows the remote party to monitor the inbound callwithout the original calling party knowing that they are doing so. Ifthe remote party decides to pickup the call in progress to talk to thecalling party, they instruct the IAM system 124 to bridge the two callstogether by depressing a DTMF key or by uttering a voice command. Uponreceiving this instruction, the IAM system 124 interrupts the recordingand streaming process and plays a canned audio prompt to the callingparty. Once again, the audio prompt can be, for example, “please holdwhile your call is being connected,” followed by audible ringing. TheIAM system 124 then bridges, in full duplex mode, the inbound call fromthe calling party to the CM subsystem 108 with the outbound call fromthe CM subsystem 108 to the remote called party station.

Once again, the IAM system 124 will stay bridged between the callingparty and remote called party for the duration of the call and mayrespond to internal events or called party actions. For example, the IAMsystem 124 can selectively interrupt the bridged call if a time limit isexceeded and play an announcement to notify the calling party and/or theremote called party that the call will be terminated shortly. The IAMsystem 124 can also transmit a warning message (such as a short textmessage) over the Internet 106 to the remote station set that thendisplays a visual notice regarding call termination or the like.

Under option (6), the called party may decide to not accept calls fromthe calling party. Having screened the call, the called party can signalthe IAM system 124 to abort the caller's message recording and tocommunicate the request to not be called in the future. For example, thecalled party can activate the “BLOCK CALL” option illustrated in FIG. 3.The called party can either select a do not answer option or a “Tellthem to TAKE ME OFF their list” option. As in the cases above, based ona user action the Client application 116 sends a correspondinginstruction to the IAM system 124. Upon receiving the “Tell them to TAKEME OFF their list” instruction from the Client application 116, the IAMsystem 124 interrupts the recording and streaming process, plays a voiceprompt to the caller, such as: “The person you have called does notaccept solicitations, please remove this phone number from your callinglist. Thank you and goodbye.” The IAM system 124 then disconnects thecall. The options dialog box could pop an additional query to determineif the subscriber would like the IAM system 124 to always apply thistreatment to future calls from this Calling phone number. This automaticcall handling rule would be stored in a table of subscriber preferencesettings local to the IAM system 124 (for example in a simple extensiontable of the subscriber's phone book). If directed to do so, the IAMsystem 124 would automatically screen-out future calls from this callerand not “bother” the subscriber with needing to handle them.

Option (7) is a variant of option (6). The called party can monitor theCaller-ID of the incoming call and decide to not accept calls from thiscalling party. The IAM system 124 could be optionally configured todelay answering the incoming call for a fixed time interval or for aspecific number of ring cycles in order to allow the subscriber time toreview the Caller-ID. If the Client application 116 instructs the IAMsystem 124 to block the call in this manner before the incoming call hasbeen answered, the IAM system 124 will ignore the call (i.e. let itring). If the Client application 116 instruction comes after theincoming call has been answered, the IAM system 124 will apply the calltreatment described above for option (6). Alternatively, the IAM system124 could be configured to instead default to a standard Internetanswering call when the Client application 116 instruction comes afterthe incoming call has already been answered. Once again, the optionsdialog box could pop an additional query to determine if the subscriberwould like the IAM system 124 to always apply this treatment to futurecalls from this Calling phone number. Again, these automatic callhandling rules would be stored in the IAM system 124 and, when directedto do so, the IAM system 124 would automatically screen-out future callsfrom this caller and not “bother” the subscriber with needing to handlethem.

The above scenarios describe situations in which the called party'scomputer 110 is on-line and serves as the initial IAM call screeningdevice. Alternatively, the JAM system 124 could be configured toautomatically forward the call notification announcement and streamedcaller message to an alternate device such as a POTS or wirelesstelephone or another online IP device. This alternative call screeningdevice selection could be configured to vary based on the availabilityof the online presence of the called party's computer 110 or alternateIP devices, on the Caller-ID of the calling party 102, on the dialednumber for the Called party 112, on the reason that the call wasdirected to the IAM system 124 (for example, call forwarding on busy,ring-no-answer, or do-not-disturb conditions), on time of day, day ofweek, etc. Configuration rules governing the automatic call handlingtreatment can be stored in the IAM DB subsystem 136.

The following process describes a typical IAM call screening scenariowhen the called party's computer 110 is offline. When the called numberforwards on busy, ring-no-answer, or do-not-disturb, and arrives on oneof the IAM voice trunks 118 along with the signaling information, the CMsubsystem queries the SM subsystem 122 and/or the IAM DB subsystem 136using the incoming call's OCN (the original called party number) todetermine that the call is for a registered subscriber, to determine thesubscriber's online/offline presence status, and to retrieve thatsubscriber's call handling preference rules. Assuming that thesubscriber has previously configured the account to handle divertedoffline calls, the IAM system carries out the specified call handlingtreatment. This could be simply to answer the call and take a message.Alternatively, it could include one of the seven call management optionspreviously described. For example, the subscriber may have specifiedthat automatic remote call screening on their cell phone was desiredwhen their home computer 110 was not online. In this case, the CMsubsystem 108 originates another call to the destination device, basedon the previously described configuration rules. Additionally, the CMsubsystem 108 may optionally delay answering the incoming callingparty's call for a predetermined amount of time or number of rings. Thisgives the called party additional time to answer the call originatedfrom the CM subsystem 108.

Normally, when the IAM system 124 originates a call, the calling partyID passed in the SS7 and/or ISDN-PRI trunk signaling is the callingparty ID of the trunks originating the call. In one embodiment, the CMsubsystem 108 modifies the network signaling to replace the callingparty ID of the trunks to be that of the phone number of the originalcalling party. Thus, a Caller-ID device will advantageously display thephone number of the original calling party. The call is processed in ananalogous above described fashion for handling a remote screening callforwarded by the subscriber from the online computer 110 to a wirelessstation. If the called party answers the call, the IAM system 124 playsa brief announcement of the call to the subscriber and the inbound callis answered by the IAM system 124 (if not already answered due totimeout reasons). For example, the CM subsystem 108 might announce thecall as “This is an Internet Answering Machine call for John Doe”. TheIAM system 124 then bridges the inbound calling party call with theoutbound called party call. The IAM system 124 optionally mutes thereturn talk path to prevent sound traveling back to the calling party sothat the calling party is unaware that their call is being screened.Preferably, though not required, the called party is bridged onto thecall as the called party is either listening to a personal/systemgreeting or, as the calling party is beginning to leave a message forthe called party. In this manner, the called party can further screenthe call.

Once the called party begins to screen the call, the called party maydecide not to connect to the calling party. The called party, havingscreened the caller who is in the process of leaving a message, can hangup, thereby terminating the bridged call without the calling party beingaware that the screening process took place. The calling party cancontinue to leave a message for the called party after the bridged callis terminated. Alternatively, the called party may decide to pickup theincoming call to talk to the calling party. Having screened the callingparty, the called party can signal the CM subsystem 108, by entering atouch-tone signal or providing a voice command, to indicate a desire totalk to the calling party. The IAM system 124 will then bridge in fullduplex mode the call between the calling party and CM subsystem 108 withthe call between the CM subsystem 108 and called party.

The IAM system 124 will stay bridged between the calling party andcalled party. The IAM system 124 can selectively interrupt the bridgedcall if a predetermined time limit is reached and play an announcementto the calling and/or the called party that the call will be terminatedshortly. Optionally, this announcement will only be played to the calledparty. In another case, the IAM system 124 can selectively interrupt thebridged calls to announce to the called party that the call will beterminating unless the called party authorizes billing by entering atouch-tone command or by providing a verbal authorization to charge thecalled party's telephone number or a credit card.

In another embodiment, an external bridging system (hardware and/orsoftware), including a connecting switch, is used to bridge calls. TheCM subsystem 108 can instruct the connecting switch located within thePSTN 104 equipped with the call bridging system to create a 3-partyconference call between the calling party, the called party, and the IAMsystem. This process advantageously reduces the number of voice portsneeded on the IAM system 124. In this scenario, the called party canoptionally signal the switch with touch-tone or voice commands to causethe IAM system 124 to connect back into the bridged call.

The example embodiments described above referred to calls forwarded froma called party's line. Another embodiment uses a personal numberuniquely assigned to each subscriber by which calls to that number canbe screened. The personal number can be, for example a telephone numberthat has been acquired through governmental telephone numberadministration bodies, provisioned in the PSTN network, assigned to theIAM system 124 and registered to an individual subscriber.

The personal number call screening process will now be described. Acalling party 102 at a phone dials a phone number published by asubscriber to the IAM system 124. The call routes through the PSTN 104and terminates on the IAM voice trunk 118 along with its associated callsignaling information. Thus, for example, rather than using an existingwireless or POTs phone number, a subscriber can publish a private phonenumber, wherein all calls to the private phone number undergo anautomatic screening process, as previously described. This techniqueenables the subscriber to better manage their incoming call costs.

Using the called party personal phone number or normal phone number as asearch key or index, the IAM system 124 extracts or retrieves calltreatment actions and conditions stored in association with the calledparty personal number or normal phone number. The call treatmentconditions and actions can include some or all of those described above.For example, the conditions can include one or more of:

Time-of-Day (can include a range of times), Day of Week (can include arange of days), Day of Year (holiday)

Calling Party Number (Caller ID, non-local area code, phone type, callername)

Called Party Number

Subscriber presence (IP device)

Telephony presence (phone)

The call treatments can include one or more of:

Take a voice message (using selective greeting(s))

Take the call on computer

Take the call on POTS phone (specify home, work, other POTS phone)

Take the call on a wireless phone

Remote screen on another phone(s) or other device(s)

Block call (for example, using an audio message, a SIT tone or the like)

Do not answer call

Multiparty conference

The following is a more detailed description of example call treatmentactions that can be executed or orchestrated by the IAM system 124:

Do not answer action: the incoming calling party phone number isscreened against a list of phone numbers or subscriber-specified othercriteria (such as no caller id available), wherein if the calling phonenumber matches the listed phone numbers and/or the other criteria, theincoming call is not answered;

Take call on computer (online/offline status action): if the calledparty is online when a call is received, initiate a VoIP session withthe Client application 116 running on the subscriber's IP device 110 andscreen the call as described above;

Take the call on POTS phone action: originate a call to a specified POTSline and bridge the POTS call with remote screening as described above;

Take the call on POTS phone action: originate a call to a wireless phoneaction and bridge the wireless call with remote screening as describedabove; or

multi-party conference action: in which the call screening sessiondescribed above is broadcast to multiple phones and IP Clientssubstantially at the same time.

In one embodiment, the multi-party conference action can include thefollowing states. A first call processing apparatus, such as the IAMsystem 124, receives a call from a first user for a second user. A voicecommunication from the first user is received at the first callprocessing apparatus. At least a portion of the voice communication ismulticasted to a plurality of client devices, which can include forexample POTs, wireless, cellular and/or VoIP phone devices, atsubstantially the same time so that the first user's call can bescreened. An instruction is received via a first of the plurality ofclient devices to connect the first user to a first of the plurality ofclient devices. The second user is then bridged to the first of theplurality of client devices.

In another embodiment, the multi-party conference action can include thefollowing states. A first call processing apparatus, such as the IAMsystem 124, receives a call from a first user for a second user. A callalert is then multicasted to a plurality of client devices, which caninclude for example POTs, wireless, cellular and/or VoIP phone devices,at substantially the same time so that the first user's call can bescreened. In addition, a voice communication received from the firstuser can be multicasted to the plurality of client devices atsubstantially the same time. The call alert can include at least aportion of Caller ID information associated with the first call. Aninstruction can then be received via a first of the plurality of clientdevices to connect the first user to a first of the plurality of clientdevices. The second user's call is then bridged to the first of theplurality of client devices.

Thus, as described above, embodiments of the present invention provideflexible, user definable call screening processes that canadvantageously optionally be used even when the user is online. Furtherembodiments advantageously enable the user to define to whichtelecommunication terminals the screened call is to be broadcast to andunder what conditions.

It should be understood that certain variations and modifications ofthis invention would suggest themselves to one of ordinary skill in theart. The scope of the present invention is not to be limited by theillustrations or the foregoing descriptions thereof.

1. (canceled)
 2. A system, comprising: at least one network-based servercomprising hardware; at least one network interface; a router subsystem,which serves as an interface to the Internet to manage communicationsbetween online Internet Protocol client devices and the network-basedserver; and non-transitory memory, coupled to the network-based server,that stores instructions that when executed by the network-based servercause, at least in part, the system to perform operations comprising:recording a unique phone number of a user in an account associated withthe user, wherein the unique phone number is not a wireless phone numberof the user and the unique phone number is not a wireline phone numberof the user; receiving an online presence indication of anInternet-connected computing device associated with the user; and atleast partly in response to receiving an incoming call to the uniquephone number, displaying a control via a user interface of anapplication software program installed on the Internet computing device,wherein selection of the control enables an incoming call to the uniquephone number to be connected to the Internet-connected computing deviceassociated with the user.
 3. The system as defined in claim 2, whereinthe receipt of the online presence indication of the Internet-connectedcomputing device is based at least in part on a receipt of a datatransmission from the application software program.
 4. The system asdefined in claim 2, wherein the receipt of the online presenceindication of the Internet-connected computing device uses at least inpart an Internet-based messaging service.
 5. The system as defined inclaim 2, wherein incoming calls to the unique phone number are directedto the network-based server prior to being presented to theInternet-connected computing device associated with the user.
 6. Thesystem as defined in claim 2, the operations further comprising enablingthe user and a calling party associated with the incoming call tocommunicate using the Internet-connected computing device.
 7. The systemas defined in claim 2, wherein the presentation of the incoming callincludes a caller identification of a calling party, wherein the calleridentification of the calling party is based at least in part on callsignaling information associated with the incoming call.
 8. The systemas defined in claim 2, the operations further comprising enabling theuser to screen the incoming call by playing audio from a caller of theincoming call, without the caller being able to hear the user, via theuser interface of the application software program.
 9. The system asdefined in claim 8, the operations further comprising enabling the userto block the incoming call, subsequent to the initiation of the playingof the audio.
 10. A system, comprising: at least one network-basedserver comprising hardware; at least one network interface; a routersubsystem, which serves as an interface to the Internet to managecommunications between online Internet Protocol client devices and thenetwork-based server; and non-transitory memory, coupled to thenetwork-based server, that stores instructions that when executed by thenetwork-based server cause, at least in part, the system to performoperations comprising: recording a unique phone number assigned to auser wherein the unique phone number is not a wireless phone number ofthe user and the unique phone number is not a wireline phone number ofthe user; receiving an online presence indication of anInternet-connected computing device associated with the user; and atleast partly in response to receiving the online presence indication ofthe Internet-connected computing device, enabling an incoming call tothe unique phone number to be presented to the Internet-connectedcomputing device associated with the user.
 11. The system as defined inclaim 10, wherein the receipt of the online presence indication of theInternet-connected computing device is based at least in part on areceipt of a data transmission from an application software programinstalled thereon.
 12. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein thereceipt of the online presence indication of the Internet-connectedcomputing device uses at least in part an Internet-based messagingservice.
 13. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein incoming callsto the unique phone number are directed to the network-based serverprior to being presented to the Internet-connected computing deviceassociated with the user.
 14. The system as defined in claim 10, theoperations further comprising displaying a control via a user interfaceof an application software program installed on the Internet computingdevice, wherein selection of the control enables the incoming call tothe unique phone number to be connected to the Internet-connectedcomputing device associated with the user.
 15. The system as defined inclaim 14, the operations further comprising enabling the user and acalling party associated with the incoming call to communicate over theconnection.
 16. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein thepresentation of the incoming call includes a caller identification of acalling party, wherein the caller identification of the calling party isbased at least in part on call signaling information associated with theincoming call.
 17. The system as defined in claim 16, the operationsfurther comprising enabling the user to screen the incoming call byplaying audio from a caller of the incoming call, without the callerbeing able to hear the user, via a user interface of an applicationsoftware program installed on the Internet-connected computing device.18. The system as defined in claim 10, the operations further comprisingenabling the user to block the incoming call, subsequent to theinitiation of the playing of the audio.
 19. The system as defined inclaim 18, the operations further comprising enabling the user to choosethe type of block call message to be played to the caller of theincoming call.
 20. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein theInternet-connected computing device comprises a web-capable cellularphone.
 21. A method of call processing, the method comprising:registering, by a computing system comprising a computing device and anetwork interface, a unique phone number to a user wherein the uniquephone number is not a wireless phone number of the user and the uniquephone number is not a wireline phone number of the user; receiving, atthe computing system, an online presence indication of anInternet-connected computing device associated with the user; and atleast partly in response to receiving the online presence indication ofthe Internet-connected computing device, enabling from the computingdevice associated with the user, an incoming call to the unique phonenumber to be presented to the Internet-connected computing deviceassociated with the user.